20 Mar 2014

Since the middle of last year, we’ve seen occasional mentions of the Facebook app for Android placing a persistent notification bar in the OS’ notification tray, one that stays in place whether it has anything to tell you or not. A new version being tested as of this week takes things a step further, adding your profile picture.

While it certainly looks prettier than the previous version we’ve seen reported, I’m not sure many people will be comfortable with seeing their face appear every time they pull down their notification tray. I’m certainly not sure that I’ll keep it active, although true Facebook addicts and people who really like their own face might get a kick out of it.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the new test to us, saying it was only available to “a small group of people” and adding that “if you’d like to turn this off, you can click the ‘i’ icon on the right side of the notifications bar and it will take you to settings.”